


The Ocean

by Gabberwocky



Series: Bluepulse Week 2016 [2]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Cute, Fluff, M/M, Misleading, mermaid!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-05
Updated: 2016-10-05
Packaged: 2018-08-19 15:23:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8214076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gabberwocky/pseuds/Gabberwocky
Summary: Blupulse week day 2- AUs Mermaid AU- a fun day for best friends (or more) Bart Allen and Jaime Reyes takes a surprising (or is it) turn





	

Bart Allen was a strange man. 

He loved the water, the freedom that came with being able to swim through the water. He was much more graceful in the water than he was on land. 

He especially loved the ocean. The currents that would swirl around him, the fish that would butt against his legs as he walked through the crystalline waters. He loved it. 

What about that is strange, you ask? It wasn’t the love of the ocean persay that made him strange. It was the main reason he loved it. 

His best friend lived there. 

Jaime Reyes, a tan-skinned, brown-eyed boy was the reason Bart Allen was strange. 

Because the tan-skinned, brown-eyed boy also had a bright blue and black tail. 

* * *

 

Bart laughed as yet another zebra shark butted up against his leg. 

“Jaime, I know you’re there.” he called, running his hand along the cartilaginous fish’s spine. “Your pets occasionally give you away.”

Soft chuckles greeted him as the merman poked his head out of the water from behind a clump of coral. 

“It’s not my fault she likes you, Bart.” Jaime responded as the shark sped towards him. “I don’t control them, you know.”

“I know.” Bart smiled, swimming towards him. “I’ve missed you, where have you been?”

“I’ve been at home, ese. They needed me.” Jaime fidgeted with the seaweed sash across his torso. 

The human grinned. “One of these days, Jaime Reyes, you will tell me what you do at home.”

“Sure, Bart. Just like you’ll tell me why you spend so much time on this island.” 

“I have told you that, though, Jaime. I’m a researcher.”

“And you’ve been a researcher since we were kids?”

“Well, my parents were first… then I picked up where they left off.”

“And what, exactly, do you research?”

“Nope! A secret for a secret! What do you do at home, her-ma-no?”

“Bart… you really don’t want to know that. Please don’t…”

“Oh come on, it can’t be that bad! What is it?” 

Jaime deflected the question by back flipping back into the water, splashing Bart with his tail. 

“Oh, you did not just do that, fish boy!”

Jaime smirked. “And if I did, chiquito?”

“You’ll regret it!” Bart swam after his friend, attempting to catch and splash a merman. 

The two carried on like that for a long while, both relishing in the chance to just be together again before they had to go their separate ways. 

“Hey, Jaime?” Bart said eventually, crawling onto a smooth rock near where they had stopped. 

“Yeah?”

“Do you ever… feel something for someone you know you can’t have?” the young man questioned, pointedly looking away from his friend. 

Jaime quickly pushed himself onto the rock, concerned. “Bart, is something wrong?”

“No, it’s… it’s nothing…” Bart shook his head. 

“Bart, it isn’t nothing. We’ve known each other for a long time… tell me what’s up.” 

“I… I think I’ve fallen in love with someone.” Bart admitted slowly. “But I don’t think it’s possible for us to have a relationship.”

Jaime smiled sadly, happy for his friend even though he felt something more than friendship for the other. “Hey, you’ll be fine. Anyone would be lucky to have you. You just have to tell them.”

Bart smiled sadly. “We’re from different worlds, this person and me. I don’t think I can just tell them.”

Jaime shrugged. “So show them.”

Bart looked at Jaime. “Show them?”

“Grand romantic gesture or whatever.” Jaime beamed, even if his heart was breaking. Bart needed to be happy, and that couldn’t happen if he was with Jaime. “Isn’t that what you humans do?”

Bart smiled back. “I don’t think this person would appreciate that. They’re much simpler. Not as in tune with humans.”

That made Jaime’s eyebrows come together. “A different merperson?” It couldn’t be him… please say that Bart hadn’t fallen for him like he’d fallen for Bart…

Bart sighed. “No. Not another merperson.” He leaned towards Jaime slowly, giving the merman a chance to react. “You. Always you, Jaime” Bart murmured just before he connected his lips with Jaime’s. 

Jaime returned the kiss instinctively, forgetting who he was and what he needed to do. He lost himself in the kiss for a moment before pulling back sharply. 

“Bart… I can’t. We can’t. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

“Jaime… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that… it was wrong of me…”

“No! No, you were fine. And I want to, god I want to, but I can’t. And I can’t tell you-”

“Prince Reyes!” a voice interrupted from afar.

“Get down, Bart!” Jaime said, pushing his friend into the water. “Don’t move.”

“Jaime, what-”

“Just get down!” Jaime swam towards the voice- another merman- and had a quick conversation with him before the other swam away a distance. 

Bart peeked over the rock. “Jaime? You’re a… a prince?”

“I’m sorry, Bart. But I… I have to marry a merperson. Preferably, for my parents, a mermaid. And… I’m getting to the marrying age. My parents want me to pick a partner by the end of the month…” Jaime trailed off, steeling himself for the final bit of information. “And I won’t be able to come here again. Ever. I’m sorry, Bart. That’s the real reason- the main reason- I came here today. To say… goodbye, Bart Allen.” Jaime leaned forward and left a small kiss on Bart’s lips. “I won’t be back.” 

The last thing Bart saw of Jaime Reyes was the flip of a blue and black tail.

* * *

 

Bart Allen was a strange man, the locals said. 

Every day, he’d sit alone on a smooth rock, gazing out towards the ocean with tears in his eyes. 

Some believed the ocean took his soul. 

“No.” a young girl said as she watched him. “The ocean took his heart. And I don’t think it’s ever going to give it back.”  

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry, no happy ending. :( 
> 
> I may be tempted into writing more for this AU, it was fun.


End file.
